Which town will win energy challenge?

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published 8:00 pm, Monday, March 31, 2008

The challenge is to be the town that signs up the greatest percentage of clean energy customers by April 22, Earth Day.
The challenge was issued by Ridgefield's First Selectman Rudy Marconi at the behest of R.A.C.E. -- the Ridgefield Action Committee for the Environment.
The challenged towns are Redding, Weston, Newtown, Westport, Stamford and Danbury. Residents can sign up for clean energy for their home electricity use by visiting www.newwindenergy.com. If you do, note that you heard about the program and Community Energy through Ridgefield Earth Day.
Residents who sign up will see an increase of $3 to $10 per month on their electric bill, money that will support the generation of electricity by wind or hydroelectric power.
Community Energy is the third-party source that provides free solar panels to towns for every 100 electric customers who sign up. Sixty-one cities and towns across the state have committed to purchase clean energy and become a Connecticut Clean Energy community through the program.
"We thought this would be a friendly challenge to other towns that would be a good jumping-off point for people to sign up for this program," said Jay Whelan, president of R.A.C.E.
"You're not signing up to have a wind turbine in your backyard," said Joanne Acquadro, a R.A.C.E. volunteer, "but to have these power sources in other states providing electricity for the grid to be distributed by Connecticut Light & Power."
Whelan noted that coal, oil and trash incinerators that provide electric power contribute heavily to carbon dioxide emissions, sulfur dioxide pollution that causes acid rain, and nitrogen oxides, the precursors of smog. Coal-fired power plants also emit mercury into the air.
Whelan cited information from the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established in March 2002 by former EPA enforcement attorneys to advocate for more effective enforcement of environmental laws.
"Technically, eliminating carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants is not possible," Whelan said, "but the report suggests that reducing electricity demand through energy efficiency and conservation measures would yield significant carbon dioxide reductions in the near term, while new technologies develop."
New Wind Energy is the CL&P supplier Ridgefield is working with in the program.